Q How can I import my email from Netscape 7 into Entourage or Apple’s Mail.
A. Netscape’s mail boxes are actually in an open mail box file format called “mbox”. Locate your mailboxes in the Mozilla directory in your Documents folder in your Home folder. Look for the files without extensions. (The files with the “,msf” extension are indexes.) Copy these files to another location and add “.mbox” to the file name.
In Entourage you can drag and drop them on the folders in the “On My Computer” folder. Entourage will then convert them to it’s own format. It will create a subfolder with the same name as the mbox. With Mail you can place the mbox inside Mailboxes folder inside the Mail folder in your Library again. When you restart Mail it will recreate the indexes.
If you’re moving from a PC using Outlook you can install Netscape or Thunderbird then import the mail from Outlook. Then you can move the files from “Documents and Settings/yourname/Application Data/Mozilla/XXXX/Profiles/Mail” to you Mac. Then use the above trick – rename the files by adding “.mbox” and you’ll have all your email.

Q. It seems that all the Microsoft product – Word, Excel, Powerpoint, have an issue with the fonts installed in my new G5. When I go to open any Microsoft application, I get a FONT by FONT message that each of my typefaces is corrupted. My fonts are fine – and work perfectly well with Illustrator, Xpress, and Photoshop. I’ve tried to find an answer on the Net – there are others experiencing this difficulty, but I don’t understand how they have worked things out.

A. A couple of months ago I wrote an article on fonts in OSX. Normally fonts are stored in your home folder’s Library/Fonts folder, the /Library/Fonts folder and the /System/Library/Fonts folders. Additionally, fonts are can also be stored in the Applications folder. (Fonts are available to users based on where they are on your Mac(s)).
In the case of MicroSoft Office there is a Fonts folder in the Office folder. (/Applications/MicroSoft Office X/Office/Fonts) These fonts become available when you launch a MicroSoft Office application – but will be ignored by other apps (unless Office is open.)
Most likely these are the Fonts that are reported as corrupt.
You could remove these fonts to avoid getting the errors but you would lose access to them. (in OS9 there used to be a program to repair the Office install – I’m not sure if their in a “reinstall” app on the install CD to reinstall the fonts.)
The most common problem with fonts on OSX are related to the “font caches”. You could download Font Finagler – which cleans up the various font caches. (http://homepage.mac.com/mdouma46/fontfinagler/)…
By the way, you should routinely clean up your cache files to keep you Mac running smoothly. Look for AdobeFnt.lst files which you’ll find all over your Mac. You can safely delete these files as they are only temporary files.

Q. Do you have any idea how good the new Intel Macs are?
A. As an Apple Authorized Reseller, I have access to all manner of models of Macintoshes. Recently I took in the opportunity to test the new Macs in a real world test. To begin with there are a couple of facts that need to be considered. The most important fact is that the PowerPC chip cannot be manufactured to run cool enough to be put in a laptop. Computers generate heat while doing the calculations necessary. So Apple’s first goal was to roll out a laptop with the new Intel chip.
The Intel Core Duo chip is a dual processor chip that can do calculations by splitting the work between the two processors. However, the current chip is a 32-bit processor, which limits the Mac two gigabytes of RAM. The PowerPC G5 is a 64-bit processor and can support up to eight gigabytes of RAM. Adobe’s Creative Suite works best if you can get as much RAM as you can – so the two gigabyte limit in a drawback.
Software manufacturers had previously took advantage of the AltiVec engine built into the PowerPC. Without his many applications will need to rewritten for the new hardware. Companies have had to hire more developers to assist in this task. Apple has developed a technology called Rosetta, which translates the PowerPC code so that it can run on the Intel Macs. While many applications can run with the help of Rosetta, there is a performance cost.
When Apple switched from Motorola 68K chips to the PowerPC and came up with an emulator to help the new machines run the legacy software. Then again in 1999, Apple introduced the MacOS X technology “Classic” which allows us to run pre-OSX software. Unfortunately, Classic will not run on the new Intel Macs. As a result legacy applications cannot run the legacy apps.
So should you consider the new Macs? The answer depends on what you are doing. I have been a PhotoShop user since it was introduced so it’s my benchmark application. I tested my G4 laptop, a iMac G5, an stock Intel iMac with 512 MB, a Intel iMac with 2 GB of RAM, a Dual Core G5 and a Quad G5. I created a complex PhotoShop action (PhotoShop is not currently optimized for the Intel chip yet.)
From slowest to fastest: The task took the longest on the 400Mhz G4, followed by the Intel iMacs, the iMac G5, the desktop G5s with the Quad G5 being the fastest by far.
PowerBook G4 (640 MB) Intel iMac
(512 MB) Intel iMac
(2 GB) IMac G5
(512 MB) Dual Core
G5 (2.5 GB) Quad G5
(2.5 GB)
41 sec 23 sec 17 sec 10 sec 6 sec 4 sec
The bottom line is that if you are coming from a G4 (or G3) or older iMac you will see a huge improvement with the Intel Macs. If you are in production with pre-press, printing, photography or video you will not see a benefit – at this time. If you need Classic support then you cannot run your old applications at all. You also may be rewarded by waiting for the 64-bit Intel chips or if you wait for the applications to be made ready. Look of the new “Universal” logo on your apps. Apple’s 30th anniversary on April 1, 2006 may have some surprises as well.